2013: Quest for "The One"

Talk anything related to Mule Deer
Sponsored by: http://www.muledeermania.com
User avatar
ridgetop
Monster
Monster
Posts: 1535
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:46 pm
Location: All over Utah

2013: Quest for "The One"

Post by ridgetop » Fri Aug 02, 2013 7:55 pm

You guys probably thought i wasn't going to give any reports this year. I've been working a ton of overtime and have been feeling more than burned out.
But I did finally get out and look around in our new area.

July 20th, Tom and I planned on hiking up into a basin that has caught our eye for a few years now. At first, things weren't going to well. My atv had a dead battery and then we got lost in the dark and couldn't find the trail. By time we started to hike, it was already getting light. For the first 1/2 mile , the hike was fairly easy and I was doing just fine but then we needed to head straight up a steep ridge to get on the ridgeline to look into the basin. That's when I told Tom (Mr. Ironman) that I would meet him at the top. When I caught up with him about a 1/2 hour later. He had spotted a couple nice bucks. Then I spotted another boxey 26" wide buck. A few minutes later Tom spotted two more good bucks, a 7x6 and a 6x5. We also, saw 5 or 6 smaller bucks. In all, we saw 6 mature bucks. Not a bad first day into a new area.
Here's a picture of the 6x5. The others were about a mile away and a little camera shy.
tiny 4x5.JPG
tiny 4x5a.JPG
There's always next year

User avatar
MuleyMadness
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 9997
Joined: Thu Oct 10, 2002 9:34 pm
Location: St. George, UT
Contact:

Re: 2013: Quest for "The One"

Post by MuleyMadness » Sat Aug 03, 2013 9:39 pm

phew...so glad you'll be giving us another report this year! :thumb

User avatar
9er
Monster
Monster
Posts: 1549
Joined: Sat Apr 08, 2006 10:22 pm

Re: 2013: Quest for "The One"

Post by 9er » Sun Aug 04, 2013 4:53 pm

MuleyMadness wrote:phew...so glad you'll be giving us another report this year! :thumb
+1000
Watch your top knot!

User avatar
a_bow_nut
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 1928
Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2005 3:43 pm
Location: Heber City, UT

Re: 2013: Quest for "The One"

Post by a_bow_nut » Sun Aug 04, 2013 6:30 pm

I've been wonder if it was going to happen again this year.

As Mr. Madness said Phew.

Thank you for another years worth of adventure. :thumb
Live to hunt, hunt to live.

Don't argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell
the difference.

User avatar
ridgetop
Monster
Monster
Posts: 1535
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:46 pm
Location: All over Utah

Re: 2013: Quest for "The One"

Post by ridgetop » Sun Aug 04, 2013 8:00 pm

July 21st,

I met my cousin John at the trailhead at 5:30 am. We both only had a few hours to look around and would need to be off the mountain by 10:00am to get to our families. By 7:00 am, we were glassing a really good looking mountain that should hold some good bucks but after looking for about 30 to 45 minutes and not seeing a single deer of any kind. We decided to move on. The plan was for John to go check on a couple trail cameras he had set up a few weeks earlier and I would cross over to the other side of the canyon that we were on , so I could look back at the country we couldn't see from our current location. As I got further around the canyon and slowly worked my way down slope, The mountain started to really "open up". I've mensioned to people before about how important it is the "glass with the grain" of the mountain, instead of against it. It's like opening up the blinds of a window all the way instead of only looking through them half opened. Anyway, once I finally got to that special glassing spot, I sat down and started looking across the huge canyon. Instantly I was able to spot a group of 4 good bucks, then further down canyon another group of 3 bucks with one of them having great forks but I could not tell how wide it was before they disappeared into the trees. Then a few minutes later I spotted another great buck even further down canyon, near the bottom. I knew it was getting late and the bucks would be bedding soon and I was running out of time but I had to get a better look at this last buck.
As I found a good spot to re-set up my spotting scope in the little bit of shade I could find. Once I was back at looking at the tall, heavy buck lower in the canyon. I could not believe my eyes. He had a droptine and a big one at that. His antlers looked really goofy. They looked more like a raghorn 4 or 5 point elk that your standard Mule Deer. After a few minutes, he turned his head. Are you kidding me? Did I just see a second droptine on the other side? Now the heatwaves were getting really strong through my scope and the air was getting more hazy, I just could not tell for sure how many points this buck had. I would need to get a better look at him another time. It was also time for me to go and meet up with John and see if he had anything good on the trail cams and head back home.
I meet up with John and told him about the bucks I saw. He hadn't seen anything and he only had one nice looking 24-25" 3x4 on the cameras.
I think I may have found the one.
There's always next year

User avatar
ridgetop
Monster
Monster
Posts: 1535
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:46 pm
Location: All over Utah

Re: 2013: Quest for "The One"

Post by ridgetop » Sun Aug 04, 2013 9:42 pm

July 21st continued...

On my way back home, I called my other hunting partners to let them know what I had found. Tom wanted to know if I wanted to go back out and get video of the raghorn buck. Since we did know exactly where he was at the time, this might be the best chance. After several meetings that afternoon that I had committed to, we were off. We frankly ran out of daylight before we could get to the raghorn buck. We did end up seeing him from a distance but because he was in very thick brush and we were looking at him from below. We just couldn't get a good look at him. So I still didn't know how many points he had or if he did indeed have two droptines. I could tell he was a very heavy and tall buck but that's about it.
We did come across this nice buck in the bottom of the canyon as we were hiking in. He just let us walk right on by him until we were out of sight.
Copy of cricket north1.JPG
Copy of cricket north1.JPG (91.86 KiB) Viewed 8464 times
Copy of cricket north.JPG
Copy of cricket north.JPG (81.34 KiB) Viewed 8464 times
There's always next year

User avatar
ridgetop
Monster
Monster
Posts: 1535
Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:46 pm
Location: All over Utah

Re: 2013: Quest for "The One"

Post by ridgetop » Mon Sep 02, 2013 12:02 am

Well, I think I found "the one". Looks like that "raghorn" freak buck may live another day. At least from my gun. :))
I've always wanted at least one 180" main frame buck and one 30" wide buck to hang on the wall. Although I've passed on a few or missed the shot. I'm still without one. I believe I have found such the bucks in the last two weeks.
Here's a picture of one of them right before dark at about a mile away.
How big is he? (???)
Bruiser a.JPG
Bruiser a.JPG (33.27 KiB) Viewed 8264 times
There's always next year

muleywannabe
2 point
2 point
Posts: 184
Joined: Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:13 pm
Location: Independence, Kansas

Re: 2013: Quest for "The One"

Post by muleywannabe » Tue Sep 03, 2013 11:49 am

thats a tough picture to judge, I can see he is wide somewhat tall but thats it...

User avatar
johnyutah5
2 point
2 point
Posts: 258
Joined: Wed May 02, 2007 10:53 am
Location: Utah

Re: 2013: Quest for "The One"

Post by johnyutah5 » Tue Sep 03, 2013 12:15 pm

I agree that's a tough pic to tell. Looks like he has some potential. :))

User avatar
MuleyMadness
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 9997
Joined: Thu Oct 10, 2002 9:34 pm
Location: St. George, UT
Contact:

Re: 2013: Quest for "The One"

Post by MuleyMadness » Tue Sep 03, 2013 4:56 pm

I'll need my Sherlock Holmes detective glasses to make out something from that photo Ridge. :)

Sounds big though.

Post Reply